Original Avatar: The Last Airbender creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko announce their exit from Netflix's live-action adaptation of the show. The beloved animated series was created by DiMartino and Konietzko in the early 00s and ran on Nickelodeon for three seasons from 2005-2008. It was adapted into a live-action movie by M. Night Shyamalan, which hit theaters in 2010. The Last Airbender film was a critical and financial failure and though it may have been intended to launch a film series, it was a franchise non-starter. After, the Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise eventually returned when Konietzko and DiMartino created the sequel series, The Legend of Korra, which ran for four seasons from 2012-2014.
In recent months, Avatar: The Last Airbender has experienced a resurgence in popularity since its latest release on Netflix. The Legend of Korra will also start streaming on the service this Friday. Both these releases come ahead of the planned Netflix live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which was announced in 2018 and was intended to bring back DiMartino and Konietzko. However, the original creators have now revealed they've departed the Netflix series.
In an open letter on his personal website, DiMartino announced he and Konietzko have exited the production of Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action TV show. Though DiMartino doesn't explicitly state the reasons for his and Konietzko's exit, he infers it came down to creative differences between the writing partners and Netflix. He wrote:
When Bryan and I signed on to the project in 2018, we were hired as executive producers and showrunners. In a joint announcement for the series, Netflix said that it was committed to honoring our vision for this retelling and to supporting us on creating the series. And we expressed how excited we were for the opportunity to be at the helm. Unfortunately, things did not go as we had hoped. ... And who knows? Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar has the potential to be good. It might turn out to be a show many of you end up enjoying. But what I can be certain about is that whatever version ends up on-screen, it will not be what Bryan and I had envisioned or intended to make.
In his own statement on Instagram, Konietzko reiterated the sentiment that he and DiMartino have exited the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender show due to their belief they wouldn't be able to bring their true vision for the project to life at Netflix. He wrote:
When Netflix brought me on board to run this series alongside Mike two years ago, they made a very public promise to support our vision. Unfortunately, there was no follow-through on that promise. Though I got to work with some great individuals, both on Netflix’s side and on our own small development team, the general handling of the project created what I felt was a negative and unsupportive environment.
The news of DiMartino and Konietzko exiting the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender show is incredibly disappointing given how instrumental they were to the original series' success. While their exit isn't necessarily a death knell for the project, their lack of involvement is certainly cause for concern. After all, Konietzko and DiMartino weren't involved in The Last Airbender movie and it ended up being a massive failure, to the point that fans of the TV show still hold a grudge against it. For some, the only reason to be excited by another attempt to adapt Avatar: The Last Airbender into live-action was the original creators' involvement.
That said, as DiMartino mentions in his statement, there's certainly a chance Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action show could be a hugely successful adaptation of the animated series. Given the popularity of Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix, there's undoubtedly an appetite for this story and if the live-action adaptation honors the original while providing a new and exciting experience, it could be a compelling addition to the franchise. However, after The Last Airbender's difficulty in adapting the source material, there's also plenty of reason to be concerned Netflix's show will struggle. For now, it remains to be seen what becomes of the Avatar: The Last Airbender live-action show and whether it will provide a satisfying reimagining or flop like Shyamalan's movie.
Source: Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko